Picking Up Pieces
by GreatBigFreak
Summary: Initial assessments are made. Dum-E is a damn troll. And the main event: Happy makes a delivery to the Avengers facility Tony and him catch up. Steve learns a few things about everyone's favourite former pugilist with a lead foot & tech phobia. And there are Stony cuddles. Always with the cuddles. Warnings for described memories of 9/11 in Lower Manhattan. 8th in a series.


The series so far in chronological order: Family Meeting, The Rubble or Our Sins, Cut Up the Same, One Step Closer, Out Here in the Deep, My Calloused Heart, and Nothing to Hide or: Earth's Mightiest Weirdos. This is a slow build Steve/Tony story.

So, this one got away from me a bit. I was all prepared to have a few pages of Happy talking with Tony, and our heroes getting down to the business of helping Bucky Barnes get his life back.

But then Happy happened. I have disregarded most of the 616 continuity except for base characteristics that make up the character that we all know and love. The movies have left him wide open for backstory, so I'm just going to start filling in those gaps with what I feel appropriate. I love the every-man caught up in the extraordinary trope, and Happy is that guy.

So here is what my mind has created for the reason Tony Stark would be friends with Happy Hogan. Think of this as an aside to the main story.

Warnings for description of memories of 9/11 in Lower Manhattan.

Disclaimer: No money being made here. All our Avengers are belong to Marvel and Disney... as does my soul probably at this point.

* * *

 _"And when I think about the things that we've been through,  
I know just one thing is true, life is better with you.  
Some days are better than other than other days,  
But these days, life is better with you."  
_Life is Better With You - Michael Franti

Bucky let them administer an IV painkiller about an hour into the flight, and fell into a deep sleep so long as Steve remained close. Steve remained calm so long as Tony remained close. Tony didn't even try to argue. He was really in no shape to be spending hours on the cold floor of a Quinjet, let alone provide the emotional support that Steve would inevitably need for the foreseeable future. But life rarely gave him a choice when he dealt with heavy things like this.

So Tony took the opportunity to have FRIDAY scan Bucky's prosthetic arm through the sensors in the armour. He knew he looked ridiculous with only the helmet on his head, but it made interfacing with FRIDAY easier.

What the two of them found underneath the Vibranium plates that covered the surface was a miracle of engineering. The arm combined older ideas with more recent updates in a harmonious way. Tony looked things over carefully, and uploaded a schematic into his own mind. He took off the helmet but set it down so FRIDAY could still see everything that was going on.

"Hey V, are you seeing the SSD in there? Between the shoulder and elbow, next to his body." Tony said. Vision performed his own scans and eyed Tony warily.

"We'll need to proceed with extreme caution." Vision replied.

"What do you mean?" Steve asked.

"There's a hard drive in the prosthetic. It's not only mechanical, it's computerized, which makes sense given the range of motion and level of practical function it has. It appears that the drive has an impressive capacity. There could be a lot more than Metal Arm Basic 3.1 and War Hero Brainwash 2.0 on it... If Vision, FRIDAY, or I tried to connect with it without proper measures in place..." Tony drifted off for a moment, dealing with the idea that he was now indeed vulnerable to cyber attack. He gave his head a shake. "Anyway, we could be putting ourselves at risk for whatever codebomb HYDRA put together when they were tired of torturing Barnes or circle jerking around that ridiculous logo of theirs."

"Can we remove it to study it?" Steve asked.

"Possible." Bruce said. "Bucky told me that it has been removed in the past for upgrades and repair."

"It looks like there's a spot just above the elbow joint where the forearm could disconnect. But there's still bone and muscle halfway down the upper arm. But the upper part is wired right into his nervous system, Steve... It's connected to his brain stem. The physical mechanism is complex, but if I can get Dummy, Butterfingers, and U to sync, they should be able to sort the disconnect function quickly and work precisely enough that they could get the forearm off. But there's a wireless connection in there, and that hard drive will probably react to us fucking with it... If we had a very small, localized EMP, the arm might take long enough to reboot that we could remove it. We would have to isolate Bucky to do it though." Tony said.

"I should be the one to do it." Vision said.

"And what if an infectious version of Ultron is in there?" Tony challenged. "Ultron's thought pattern came from HYDRA, and it was made using the Mind Stone. I lost J to Ultron. I won't lose you too." He insisted. "Or any of the others. None of you are expendable."

"And you would do well to remember the same about yourself, sir." Vision said pointedly. Tony gave him a hard look, but Vision remained firm. Bruce looked confused.

"Wait, sir?" Bruce asked.

"Vision remembers JARVIS' earliest days, during which he had a sort of proto-sentience. Where he could make his own logical choices, but only under controlled circumstances." Tony explained. "J and Dummy used to play a lot of chess against one another... Vision has taken to pulling the sir card on me when he's trying to make me see reason or expressing affection." Bruce seemed oddly surprised and yet pleased at the cheeky grin Vision gave them. "Smart ass." Tony said.

"As you say, sir."

"For now, so long as that drive isn't trying to transmit any information wirelessly, it should be fine, but I want all of our systems on high alert. This means you, FRIDAY, Dummy, and myself. I get a feeling that HYDRA isn't going to make this easy on us."

"Strucker seemed easy enough after SHIELD went down and they lost the Mind Stone. I think they've lost a lot of infrastructure." Steve said.

"With or without it, they still had enough of a network to keep Wanda and Pietro completely off our RADAR." Tony warned. "That's the trade off. The more we root them out, the further they go underground."

"Well, I've got all the reasons in the world to keep fighting them, Tony. Stark Tower was a target for the Helicarriers, you know. Maria and Natasha both saw it." Steve said softly. "We'll get them, Tony. Together, we'll finish them."

"I thought Barnes would be at the top of your list."

"I am capable of having more than one person as a priority in my life." Steve said dryly. Tony smiled and relaxed against him.

"Now _that_ is comforting." Tony said.

"You weren't kidding about that, were you?" Bruce asked.

"Nope." Tony said and popped the P. He followed it up with a shy, boyish grin, and it took everything in Steve not to kiss Tony then and there. A deep sense of relief filled him. They had Bucky back. He was worried for the immediate future, but he took a moment to feel the joy that went with it. Everyone settled in to rest, and Steve eventually drifted off to the hum of the engines.

After snatching a couple hours of sleep, Tony woke stiff, but rested and relieved Clint in the pilot's seat for the final stretch home. Steve and Bucky were still sacked out and Tony was happy to see Steve's face so relaxed for a change. Vision stayed near him, and relayed wirelessly that he and Wanda would be observing Bucky's mind for warning if his programming resurfaced. Tony sent back that he was more worried about the hard drive in Bucky's arm, and while it was a good idea to be aware, pointed out that if Bruce trusted Bucky to not set off a Code Green, that he probably had enough control over himself for the rest of them to not worry.

Tony then reached out tentatively to Dum-E back home to get him to retrieve and arrange parts for a micro EMP device. _"Sure, Tony."_ He said warmly.

 _"Thanks, buddy. Try to not get distracted by the ball, okay? This is important, and we need to work quickly."_ Tony said.

 _"Ye of little faith. You wound me."_ Dum-E teased.

 _"You know, if you keep this up, I'm not going to let you get away with general incompetence anymore."_

 _"Who's to say that I haven't been trolling you the entire time? I stand by my shenanigans. You take shit too seriously. You gotta lighten up, man. If doing something stupid gets you to take time out of your too serious, too busy life to make and attach a dunce cap to my head securely, so be it. I am prepared to make that sacrifice."_ Dum-E replied.

 _"Being told to lighten up by my robot via a wireless mental connection in my brain. How is this my life?"_ Tony mused.

 _"If it's any consolation, you're my favourite meat sack. I wouldn't come up with creative and amusing ways to drive you nuts if you weren't important to me."_ Dum-E justified.

 _"I didn't raise you to be such a goddamn troll, I swear."_ Tony said, his mental voice pitched with amused irritation.

 _"You sit on a throne of lies, Tony. Sure you did. Rhodey helped too. We're troll cubed. Team Troll. A troll platoon when the rest of your teammates join in. Earth's mightiest trolls."_

 _"You think I'm not painfully aware of that?"_ Tony asked. He was smiling a little, and enjoying being able to communicate directly with his old friend. And Dum-E was bringing his A-Game of sass.

 _"Clearly not if my simple ass has to explain it to you... You want both sets of precision hand tools?"_ Dum-E said. Tony smothered his laughter and he saw Natasha perk her interest in him via the reflection on the windshield.

 _"Great, now the spy thinks I'm nuts. Thanks, Dummy."_

 _"Not my issue. You shouldn't have raised me to be such good company."_ Dum-E said. _"The tools, Tony?"_

 _"Toss both sets on the cart, buddy."_ Tony replied.

 _"No problem... You'll be home soon, right?"_ Dum-E asked, his hesitation and concern showing.

 _"On my way. We've got a nice tailwind now, so we should be quicker than expected."_ Tony reassured.

 _"Good. Miss you."_ Dum-E said.

 _"Miss you too. See you soon."_ Tony promised. His smile remained as he gently closed the connection and focused on the horizon line.

"Hey boss, there's a call from Mr. Hogan coming in." FRIDAY said quietly over the speakers closest to him.

"Patch him through the traditional way, dear. Happy has issues with tech." Tony said.

The small screen to the right came up with an image of a camera mounted to view the driver of a vehicle. In this case, Happy Hogan looked very at ease behind the wheel and Tony smiled at him. "Hey Happy. Good to see you." He said. Happy cast his eyes toward the screen showing Tony's face in the van.

"Hey Tony." He said as he appraised his former charge. "You're looking better."

"Feeling better. Who knew that Captain America would turn out to be good for my mental health?" He asked. Happy gave a short snort of laughter.

"Nice... Really though, you look better. I'm glad."

"Me too."

"Look, sorry to bug you, but I'm on my way up to the facility. Pepper said there was a crate taking up space on the loading dock of the tower, and asked if I would bring it up to you." Happy explained.

"That will be the package for Sam. How far out are you?"

"Only just about to leave."

"Oh, good. Can you load up Butterfingers and U, and get them to bring their charging docks? Do you have room for them?" Tony asked. Happy looked over his shoulder and assessed the available space.

"Should if I tuck the docks in next to the crate... Planning on staying up there for awhile?" Happy asked.

"Yeah. I need the bots for a thing, but yeah... It's good for me there. I'm not alone, and you know that I don't do well on my own... And I'm needed. You gotta keep this on down low, Hap. No further than Pepper... We found Banner and Barnes." Happy's eyes went wide.

"You kidding me?" He asked in a rushed whisper. "Wait, like, in the same place?"

"Uh huh. Madripoor. Don't know why they were together yet, but we're just headed home now, and Barnes and Banner are both sacked out." Tony said, and shook his head in his own disbelief. "Also, on an unrelated note, there's something I feel I should let you know, but let me tell Pepper myself... Steve and I may be slowly attempting to get into one another's pants." He admitted. Happy's face lit up with disbelieving mirth. He then looked perplexed and scratched the back of his head. Hogan had long known about Tony's lack of preference in his sexual preferences, and cared little, though it had taken him awhile to adjust to the reality of his employer's wealth fueled sexual appetites. He had though, so Tony knew it wasn't that aspect that gave Happy the hesitant reaction. "You okay, Happy?"

"Yeah yeah... Just trying to figure out if this is a good thing or the seventh sign of the apocalypse." He joked.

"It's a good thing. A very good thing." Tony said softly.

"Well, this is turning out to be an eventful day. I'll gather up the bots. What's your ETA?"

"About two and a half or three hours."

"Great. I should be there in time to see you if you're not too tired or busy."

"Always got time for you, Happy." Tony said. He disconnected the call after they said their goodbyes.

Natasha rose from her seat and padded over to him softly with a surprisingly kind smile on her face. "I forget how close you two are." She said.

"It was weird after New York and strained after the Mandarin. But he never blamed me, which, ugh, I can't even begin to know how he comes by that type of Zen. We're getting into a stride again finally. It sounds very poor little rich kid of me, but Happy was my closest friend outside of Rhodey for a long time. It was just easier to find him work where we got to hang out together often. Hence the driver/body guard gig. He's no trained assassin, but his instincts can't be beat, and he's got a helluva right jab left hook combo that will put most mortal men on the ground... And he's great to talk cars with." Tony said and smiled. "I miss having him around, but I'm relieved he's recovered well enough to have Pepper's back now. He's excitable, except for in a fight or crisis. I get that on a deep level."

"Anyone that takes a Rolls-Royce upstream through a fleet of Formula 1 racecars has to be a bit of both." Natasha agreed.

"Thank Christ he and Pepper weren't hurt during that." Tony said. He sounded mournful and regretful, but kept his gaze steely and on the horizon.

"You're actually pretty competent when something important is at stake." She said. Tony smiled again.

"I try."

"I know." She replied.

Steve let Tony sneak away on arrival to go see Happy and let his bots be reunited. Tony and Happy unloaded them to an over-excited Dum-E beeping and chirping the whole time, and Tony was fairly certain he was explaining to them the rules about bugging Tony unnecessarily. Happy had greeted Tony with a life-affirming hug and pat on the back.

Happy's injuries from the attack on Grauman's Chinese Theatre had healed as well as they ever would. He had some scarring around his eye and cheekbones as well as up into his scalp. Tony had offered Extremis after he had Pepper sorted out, and Happy had cheerfully told him that no boxer would be caught dead trying to get scars to vanish.

They let the bots do their lopsided square dance greeting, and he stood off to the side with Happy. "So, you and Captain America." Happy started.

"Me and _Steve_." Tony corrected.

"I can see it, even if it kind of baffles me." Happy said thoughtfully.

"You and the rest of the world, Hap. And that includes Steve and I... I just... Really like Steve. Cap's a great guy, but Steve is fantastic." Tony explained.

"Well, from what you've told me, you're both stubborn shits, so at least you have that in common." Happy said. Tony chuckled.

"How's Pep?" He asked earnestly.

"Better since you came here. She worries a lot less. We're back in New York for a couple weeks, and then back to Cali... We're staying at the Tower. Hope you don't mind." Happy said.

"Harold Hogan, I swear to fuck, if you haven't got it through your thick skull by now that mi casa es su casa, I will clock you. I will break my hand, but I will clock you." Tony said playfully.

"Yeah, well, you might change your mind about that." Happy said and looked down at his feet. Tony's eyes narrowed, seeing all he needed to.

"Really? You and Pep?"

"Not... yet. I explained that you and I had to bro-code this one out. She kissed me in Paris and we were both a little tipsy on wine and-" Happy said.

"For the love of fuck, Hogan, please tell me you kissed her back." Tony said.

"-I swear I was a gentleman and I didn't - wait, what?" Happy paused.

"Happy, this is fantastic." Tony said. "Fuck the bro-code. If it's you she wants, then the door is open. She and I aren't together anymore. I have no say about who she's dating. But, holy shit am I ever thrilled that she's interested in you and not some rich douchebag. She deserves to be treated like a queen and I know you will treat her like one. She deserves the best guy on Earth, and given your track record for heroics and giving a shit, you got a solid shot at that... Not only that, you won't get in the way of one another's jobs. You're comfortable with her hours and responsibilities and vice versa... You're both... Normal." Tony said, as if that was the highest thing one could aspire to. "Don't get me wrong, you're both extraordinary, but you want the same things out of life, and you're not so damaged you can't be that for one another." Tony said, positivity spilling out of him. Happy sighed in relief.

"And looking way into the future, if you have kids or something, it'll be fewer birthdays for FRIDAY to goad me into remembering because the kids will belong to the same people... This is like, Wayne's World mega happy ending territory... Party on, Wayne." Tony said.

"Party on, Garth." Happy said on reflex. Tony laughed. "Though I'm fairly certain you'd be Wayne."

"Hell no. I'm socially awkward outside of snarky high-functioning alcoholism. Everyone likes you. You're Wayne." Tony insisted.

"So, you're really not pissed off?" Happy asked.

"I'm really not pissed off. Just don't hurt her is all. But I can't imagine you doing that. You are way smarter than I am in that department... Seriously, I'm over the moon for you. I've never wanted to see two people make it more in my life. I totally ship it." Tony said. Happy cast an eyebrow up.

"Ship it?" He asked.

"Like you with Mr. Bates and Anna." Tony explained. Happy gave him a look of recognition and then a shy smile.

"Ah, okay... Where the hell did you find the time to catch up?" Happy asked.

"Had it on in the background a lot when working these past few months to fill the silence. It's compelling, and let's face it, I have a thing for soothing British accents. I blame Jarvis and Aunt Peggy." Tony said and shrugged.

"How's... Vision? Is Vision what you call him?" Happy asked.

"It's what he calls himself, and he's good Happy. He's definitely unearthly but... utterly beautiful to know. He remembers JARVIS' earliest days before his true sentience. He's incredible. And he's helping me get a better handle on Extremis." Tony said softly. Happy looked hesitant.

"Pepper is still terrified of it. She has dreams about it sometimes. Falling... Or going too hot." He said.

"I know." Tony said, and looked off into the middle distance. "But it will remain completely inactive and disabled in her system unless I recode it. I made sure that she won't ever have to deal with it again, even... if she gets hurt. Which, fuck, god that was so hard to do..."

"It's what she wanted." Happy said quietly.

"I didn't tell her in so many words, but I would probably be dead now without it. My body is too fucked up. I need it, Happy. I have so much to do still."

"I figured that, given what you've been through. I'll tell her if you want me to." Happy said.

"If you want, but don't feel obligated to defend me. In fact, if you want to, don't for a while yet. You two focus on you, okay? Leave me out of it. Actually, you two probably need some kind of time together. She's so busy... Oh, I know... I want you to go get a new suit from my tailor, and put it on my personal account. Take her out to dinner, somewhere she'll love. Champagne, dessert, dancing, limo service, the works. It's not a lot of time, but it's a start. You still have that black Amex I gave you, right?"

"Tony-" Happy started.

"Please, Happy? There is nothing that would please me more than doing this for the two of you." Tony said. One of the things that Tony loved best about Happy Hogan was that he wasn't one to look a gift horse in the mouth. At least not when it came to Tony spending money. He never asked for anything, with the exception of extended medical coverage for his aging parents, but he rarely turned down gifts from Tony. Tony assumed the fact that Happy had spent so much of his life willing to take a bullet for him, let him accept the odd new car without guilt.

"Okay, Tony. It'll be a nice way to shake up the routine." Happy said. Tony grinned ear to ear.

"Perfect, now, you wanna take Cap's new bike out for a spin before you have to leave? He's too tied up with Barnes to notice, I'm sure." Tony said.

"How badly with he kill me if I do?" Happy asked.

"He damn well better not. I build the things for him and I've seen him throw them at enemy armed personnel carriers." Tony said.

"That man has no respect for a superior machine." Happy said, mock horrified.

"Tell me about it." Tony said, and led Happy toward the parking area.

Steve discovered them when he came to track Tony down, near the end of Happy's joyride around the perimeter of the complex. "Really? My bike?" Steve asked.

"Hush. He never gets to play. Let him play." Tony said. He gave Happy a thumbs up when he turned and saw them. Tony was surrounded by the herd of bots, looking content in his world of weird. He took photos of Happy with his phone for posterity when he pulled up, and made a mental note to start archiving images to put on the walls of his room. It wasn't a done thing in the houses he grew up in, save for in Jarvis' quarters, where family photos plastered the walls. He decided then and there he was going to carry on that tradition.

Steve shook Happy's hand and Tony took another photo of the two of them together, grinning like idiots over the bike. FRIDAY then popped up via Tony's phone, and reminded him of the high-security concepts he had waiting for Pepper and the R&D department, should she approve of them. He scampered off quickly before anyone had time to catch up to him, leaving Steve and Happy standing in the garage.

"So, I texted Rhodey, and he said it wasn't required, but I need you to understand something, Captain Rogers." Happy said. Steve kept his expression neutral. This was an unexpected source for the Shovel Talk, but he supposed he was overdue.

"I'm listening." Steve said.

"Tony saved my life. Not Tony Fucking Stark, or Iron Man. Just Tony. We met when he was in his mid-twenties. Some assholes that didn't know who he was, other than wealthy looking, were trying to shake him down in an alley. He used to have a thing for dive bars. I was a passerby with nothing left to lose, and about a half a shred of decency left, so I stepped in... And you'd think that would be me saving his life, right? Wrong." Happy sighed and wished for a cigarette, but Pepper had asked him to quit, and there was very little he wouldn't do for her. Except for eating kale. Fuck kale. You could only push a man so far. He gave his mind a shake and returned his attention to Steve.

"When I met Tony, I thought my life was over. I was a good boxer, ya see? But not a great one. That night I stepped in? I was nobody, had nothing, and was going nowhere. One too many shots to the head and my career was over before it ever got going... I decided that drinking myself into a stupor for however long it took to not care anymore was a solid option... At the end of my money that night, I left the bar and happened across Tony's predicament... I almost kept walking. But he looked up at me with those eyes that shout for help... And then he looked away, because he already expected me to keep walking. He thought he was all alone, and holy hell did I know what that felt like." Happy paused again, but Steve remained quiet and attentive.

"I decided then that taking the risk was decent way to go out if that's how it turned out. Thankfully, it didn't. He's always been a scrappy son of a bitch. He just needed them distracted enough to come back and start fighting on his own. And by the end of it, we were back to back, watching the punks run off, and Tony says to me _"Hey, you want a job?"_ Not much more than a little punk himself, with a black eye and split lip, offered me a job a second and third time before we even got back to the sidewalk. As you know, he's persistent." Happy said, and he was smiling mildly at the memory.

"By the time I got him back to that palace on Fifth Avenue his old man owned, I was starting to believe he might have the capacity to pay me a living wage... He's charismatic. But it was a good thing. I needed that enthusiasm. I needed a purpose. He was going places and I decided that I wanted to go along, because it was better than drifting like I had been. Not only that, but I wasn't just a driver or a meathead to take a bullet for him. He always treated me like a friend. Closest friend I had outside of my family for a long time. We were together most of the time when he wasn't holed up in the workshop. Tony still sends my mother these ridiculously expensive French chocolates every Christmas because she tried one I had in my apartment and liked it. I told him about it exactly once." Happy rolled his eyes but smiled.

"So now I am going to say this: I will never get anything more than a sucker punch in on you if you hurt Tony... But I do have Pepper on my side, and she is more terrifying than any threat of physical harm I can think of. Virginia Potts can think us all under the table, and she will end you if you hurt him in a malicious manner, and I will do anything in my power to facilitate that. Got it?" Happy asked. His eyes had acquired a hardness that was practiced and steady and reminded Steve of Colonel Phillips.

"Understood." Steve said. "But I would like to pass along reassurance that that is the furthest thing from my mind, Mr. Hogan. I like Tony. I like his enthusiasm. I like how much he cares, even if he tries to hide it... It's like winning the lottery, but not for the obvious reasons. I never met anyone who so badly wanted to understand and get to the heart of things, and was so ready to adapt to change. Those are good qualities for me to have around. I want us to be good for one another. A counterbalance and support in our world of crazy." Steve said. Happy smiled.

"Then, you get to call me Happy."

"I'd be honoured. Call me Steve, please."

Happy left when Tony returned with the secure external drive. Tony hugged Happy again and made him promise to take Pepper out on his dime. Steve felt something warm in his chest. It was similar to when he first started to see Tony show affection for his bots when he was around. It meant Tony trusted him with who he cared most about.

Happy sounded the horn of the van twice in quick succession at the gate and was off while Tony waved. "You know, Tony, you choose some really great people to keep around." Steve said as they walked back inside the garage. Tony let out a sharp bark of laughter.

"I really don't. I just cling to the few good ones I've found who can put up with my shit." Tony said.

"Oh, does that mean you'll cling to me?" Steve asked, raising his eyebrows just a bit.

"If you want me to." Tony replied and smirked at him.

"I look forward to that." Steve said. Tony leaned in and up and kissed him gently.

"You got it." He murmured, and leaned into Steve, putting his ear to Steve's chest.

"Happy gave me the Shovel Talk." Steve said conversationally. Tony laughed quietly, but didn't pull away.

"How did he threaten you?"

"He didn't per say. But he did threaten me with Pepper's wrath." Steve said. Tony laughed again.

"Well, he's not known for fucking around, and neither is Pepper." Tony said.

"Will she be okay with this?" Steve asked, showing rare hesitation.

"Ms. Potts apparently planted a kiss on Happy when they were in Paris. I'm going to assume that she'll be just fine. I mean, they're a fairytale if they work out. A grizzled boxer with a heart of gold, and the beautiful, brilliant woman who loves him for it. They make movies about that trope." Tony said.

"Wow... That's... Nice. Really nice. Are you okay with that?" Steve asked.

"As I told Happy, I'm over the moon for them. I hope it works out. If they have each other, it's a good buffer against my craziness."

"I don't think you're so crazy. Crazy things just happen to us." Steve said.

"Spoken like a true fellow crazy person." Tony teased and they laughed together.

"I suppose so. We should make an effort to visit them when things are better." Steve said.

"We will. Happy and Pepper are some of the best people I've ever known. I don't know what I ever did to deserve them." Tony said.

"From the sounds of it, you helped Happy out a lot, so I bet the feeling is mutual." Steve brushed his nose into Tony's hair, inhaling softly.

"Did he tell you how we met?" Tony asked, smiling. He was enjoying absorbing the heat of the sun through the windows in the garage doors on his back, and the warmth of Steve's body covering the rest of him.

"Yes, actually."

"Did he tell you about 9/11?" Tony asked.

"No." Steve replied. The numbers rang in a hollow place in his soul where experience should be. He'd been sleeping in the ice on that day, and viewing the footage and seeing the pictures, no matter how catastrophic, wasn't the same.

"We were on time that morning." Tony whispered, and Steve stilled. He'd heard a few personal accounts now, and they shattered him in the way people telling their experiences of Blitzkrieg or the concentration camps during the war.

"Through the herculean efforts of Potts, and Hogan's extraordinary traffic sense, I walked into the South Tower of the World Trade Center at 7:30 that morning. We were getting down to business with a team of the junior financial staff I had working in S.I.'s offices there. To appear more legitimate, we maintained a WTC address, though it was a small, satellite office... The Gulf War had done wonders for S.I.'s brand. Even when Howard died the December after it was 'finished'. The stock soared when I stepped in as the head of R&D with Obie as Chief Operations Officer... And even if I publically do the song and dance about my old man being a hero, I will be frank and admit to you that it's mainly a cover to justify the war profiteering the company benefitted from. Profiteering I was an active participant in for many years." Tony said. Steve held him closer, and his relief at not being rejected for his greatest shame was palpable.

"If not Stark Industries, then it would have been someone else, Tony."

"As an aside, I registered my first patent before I hit puberty. Did you know that?" Tony asked.

"It's in your file." Steve said.

"Do you know what it was for?"

"No."

"Trigger mechanism. Prevented misfires in a popular sidearm carried by police and military. Not my first invention, but my first patent, and it was for a weapon. I have a hard time understanding how fucked up that is, only that I probably should have been listening to bad hair metal and angsting about my ever more apparent rampant bisexuality instead." Tony said.

"You were trying to please Howard." Steve deduced.

"Yeah, I suppose, and after 9/11, I doubled down on that. I watched the first plane hit the North tower from about fifteen stories down. We were on the North side of the South Tower. The entire building shook..." Tony took a breath, and his eyes were wet, but he wasn't sinking into a panic attack.

"Happy... Happy fucking Hogan was on the phone immediately to me. Not Pepper or anyone else, he called me. The tower's security team over the P.A. told us to stay where we were. But Happy was begging me to get everyone out. I told him that the buildings were designed for insane traumas, but he interrupted me. I will never forget him shouting in my ear _"For fuck sakes, Tony! It wasn't an accident! That plane was aiming for the tower! ...Kamikazes flew in teams! Get out, Tony! For the love of god get out!"_ ... It was the first time in the course of my employing him that I remember him addressing me directly as Tony... And I listened. I explained to my people that despite the announcement, we were all leaving via the fire escape. Thankfully the department was made up of younger employees, and I only had nine people in the office that morning. We ran. Pepper and the girls were carrying their heels as we went down, along with most of the rest of the people in the South Tower. We hit the ground floor at 9:01." Tony said. He was eerily calm. This was an old trauma compared with what he had lived through.

"I've never run so fast in my life up to that point, and managed to keep my phone to my ear, talking with Happy the whole time. I counted down the floors so he would know where we were. When the South Tower shook from the impact of the second plane, I was leading my people to the limo. Happy had taken it out to the street from the parking garage and quadruple parked strategically so he could get out. We squeezed everyone into the back of limo, and I took the passenger seat, and he booked it out of there like hell was on his tail. The streets were pandemonium, people walking right out on to the road, all looking up at the smoke in the sky. He was so careful though. So calm. He kept the privacy window down so we could talk to everyone in the back, and hummed Sinatra while listening to the news on the radio. He and I spoke with the police barricades, and they let us through. We made a straight burn up West Street to Tenth Ave, then over the 65th Street Transverse, to the house on Fifth Avenue. We were as safe as I thought we were going to get. There's a fallout shelter in the basement... So there's something I can thank Howard for." Tony gave Steve a grim smile.

"Good god." Steve murmured softly.

"I opened up the house as much as I could after. Had non-emergency hospital patients in the ballroom and everything because I had generators and water treatment facilities in house. I swear everyone in Manhattan stopped by to charge their phone... And that junior financial team are now some the savviest number crunchers in the country, and they all still work for S.I. too. One of them hugged me and cried after I got home from Afghanistan, and made the announcement about the change in S.I.'s direction. She thanked me for being so brave as to change the entire directive of the company... So when Happy Hogan says I saved him, just remember that he's saved me too." Tony said. Steve tightened his grip on Tony for a moment, and Tony was in love with the feeling of safety he got when Steve held him.

"I need to buy that man a beer." Steve said and Tony laughed again. He met Steve's eyes and leaned in for another kiss.

"I love this." Tony murmured. "I've never had this."

"Me too." Steve said. "You've got no idea how wonderful it is to be open about it."

"Some idea. Obie was never a fan of me pursuing my attractions that didn't fit in with his shitty worldview. But my ass wasn't going to get tossed in jail over it. I meant more affection, outside of sex. I haven't had a lot of it, but I'm getting to need it I think." Tony said.

"Well, I am more than happy to provide." Steve said and kissed Tony again. "Sex is still on the menu though."

"Agreed... How's Bucky?"

"Still asleep. Bruce is keeping him under." Steve replied.

"I'm sort of shocked that you came to fetch me personally." Tony teased.

"You and I have a ways to go if this is going to be real, and we're doing well, but we're not there yet. Bucky is probably going to be years of effort, and I'm going to need you... Not only that, I want you to be with me. So I will just have to use my time well. I want you to get to know Buck too, Tony. The way he looked at me before he hugged me, I know that there's enough left of him that's worth knowing. He's going to need your adaptability just as much as I do."

"Good. I'm with you, Steve. He deserves the best to get him better. We'll do everything we can." Tony reassured.

"Thanks, Tony."

Dum-E approached, trilling brightly with Butterfingers and U hot on his heels, having taken a tour of the garage and workshop area. They chittered back and forth like parakeets and it made Steve smile wide. "Hey hey the gang's all here." Steve sang softly.

"Don't blame me if that's all they sing to you now." Tony warned Steve. "Hey guys." The bots came in close, and Tony parted from Steve and stretched out his hands to touch the new arrivals. "So, did you two get into any trouble in the workshop on your own?"

The bots' heads waved in a no motion, but Tony rolled his eyes. "Sure you didn't. Look, I want to give you a proper tour, but I think I need to put you to work right away. We have to help out Steve's friend." Tony told Butterfingers and U who perked up at that, attentive and ready. Tony took Steve's hand and they walked toward the door of the garage leading into the facility. Dum-E retrieved the rolling cart of tools and parts and followed along, Butterfingers in U falling in behind him.

"Good stuff, thanks guys. Now, who wants to help daddy build a bomb?" Tony asked. Steve laughed at the bots mutual celebratory reaction, and subsequent movements to pick up tools that had dropped off the cart that Dum-E pushed.

-End (for now)


End file.
